News Release: New Sony Mobile Projector Turns Any Surface into a HD Theater

9/3/2015
Anant Goel

NEWS RELEASE: Immediate

02 September 2015

New Sony Mobile Projector Turns Any Surface into a HD Theater

(Asia Pacific, 02 September 2015) – Sony is entering the Portable Mobile Projector market with the new MP-CL1. This handheld projector uses a laser light source to deliver HD resolution images (1920 x 720) with high contrast (80,000:1) for accurate color rendition. The short-throw, pocket-sized mobile projector can display a screen size of up to 120 inches at a distance of 3.45 meters. Along with a built-in speaker, the MP-CL1 is suitable for both home and mobile entertainment, business presentations, as well as for the display of content from smartphones or tablets.

“TV is no longer a single screen in our living room… viewers now want to choose when, where and how to view live video across a wide breadth of devices.”

The combination of a mobile device and a WiFi enabled HD laser PicoP projector offers ultimate in mobility… functionality… video viewing and sharing… and the cool factor ownership of an interactive projector display.

SONY MP-CL1 is using the second generation laser PicoP display engine by MicroVision and has higher screen resolutions than the original.

MicroVision describes the PicoP Gen 2 engine as “ideal for various consumer and commercial mobile applications such as entertainment, advanced gaming, business projection, and education.”

Laser PicoP technology could blow away the television industry in Asian Pacific countries as we know it!

Why pay for a big 60 inch TV when you can buy a 32+ lumen HD PicoP projector for one half the price and get HD [1920 X 720p] at 16:9 wide screen resolution at 80,000:1 contrast… and take it with you anywhere you go with an Internet connection?

Could the big TV companies put a kibosh on this PicoP mobile projector technology? I’ve been following this technology for many years and up until recently nobody believed that PicoP technology could pose such a threat leading to the demise of energy guzzling [45watt] LED TV. In Asia Pacific countries where energy is a precious commodity, PicoP projectors [at 5watt] could see faster and massive adoption.

SONY had a stroke of genius, when they decided to first release the SONY Mobile projector MP-CL1 in the Asian Pacific region. More than 3/4th of the world’s population lives in the Asian Pacific region and has over 1 billion people that fall in the middle class category. The world is witnessing a new global middle class—an Asian Pacific middle class. There is a cross-over underway from the West to the East in products, fashions, tastes, and designs oriented to the mass middle class. By 2021, on present trends, there could be more than 2 billion Asians in middle class households. In China and India alone, there could be over 1 billion middle class consumers, compared with only perhaps 650 million today.

Think about it!!!

Energy is a precious commodity in the Asia Pacific region, and a short throw PicoP projector at 5watt power consumption could see faster and massive adoption.

The fastest growing middle class in Asian Pacific countries is over 1 billion, with spendable discretionary income… more than the Americans and Europeans combined.

The living quarters in Asian Pacific countries are rather small, and the short throw feature in SONY MP-CL1 is an excellent feature to have.

A laser PicoP projector at HD 720 resolution [1920x720] and with built-in wireless [and HDMI/MHL] connectivity would be at less than 5 watts. And you could project 60 inch HD images from less than feet or two away in a small Asian living room. On the other hand, the LED based 60 inch TV would consume over 45 watts... and produce so much wasted heat in hot and humid countries of the Asian Pacific region. Did you know the biggest consumer of electricity is for operating the billion or so TVs around the world?

Large screen energy guzzling TVs are doomed. If nothing else, the HD PicoP technology would definitely not help their cause. Just like the iPad and tablet is killing PCs; MicroVision’s HD PicoP technology is truly disruptive.

Imagine in next 12 months; you could buy a smartphone with built-in HD PicoP projector shooting 1080p at 50+ laser lumens. That would definitely hurt TV sales; but they [TV manufacturers] can’t stop this progress. Too many large players like SONY and SAMSUNG want this technology to grow and flourish. The market pull from Asian Pacific countries like India, China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and so on is enormous.

Once the SONY MP-CL1 mobile projector is launched and becomes available in October 2015, and we get clear guidance to mass produced PicoP Display Engines, it will be a proverbial rocket ride for companies like SONY and MicroVision.

Personally, I’m thinking of buying two… one for the living room and the second for the bedroom for occasional viewing on the ceiling. I could easily watch a show on my wall or ceiling and take it anywhere I want, for one half the price [at $350 USD] of 60 inch LED TV.

So it’s obvious to me that TV sales stand to lose a substantial amount over the next few years─ when the PicoP projectors like SONY MP-CL1 at 50+ lumens and 1080p resolution come out… especially when the sales in colleges and universities with small dorm rooms start to pick-up momentum.

At the very least; HD PicoP projectors at 50+ lumens will fill-in the spot for the 2nd and 3rd TV sets in affluent homes.